Volkswagen hit by IT outage, vehicle production in Germany halted

FRANKFURT — Volkswagen was hit by a major IT outage on Wednesday, Europe’s top carmaker said, adding that production at the carmaker’s namesake brand in Germany had come to a halt as a result.

Volkswagen said that the whole group, which includes the Porsche AG and Audi brands, was affected.

A spokesperson for Audi confirmed that production at the division had been impacted, too, adding it was currently being analyzed to what extent.

Porsche AG had no immediate comment.

Volkswagen said there had been an unspecified “IT malfunction of network components” at the carmaker’s site in Wolfsburg, its global headquarters.

“The fault has been present since 12:30 p.m. (CET) and is currently being analyzed. There are implications for vehicle-producing plants,” the group said.

“According to current analyses, an external attack is unlikely to be the cause of the system malfunction,” Volkswagen said, adding that efforts to fix the problem were of the highest priority and well under way.